Letter: On the path of destruction

Letters editor

The council continues to deprive us officially of ongoing information regarding what is happening to the Futurist.

Because of this rumours abound, but we do have enough friends to keep us sufficiently informed to enable us to keep up to date and respond accordingly.

The current issue is the problem and costs of clearing the land between the building itself and King Street. We have our own civil engineering specialists who have advised us, and it is clear that what is involved is a huge undertaking because of what lies beneath the land; which are main drains from top to foreshore level, together with extensive electricity cabling with attendant substations.

All this would have to be altered and re-routed. Also, the three extensive concrete terraces, which remain overgrown, but do actually stabilise the cliffside.

The difficulty and cost of dealing with this land clearance together with the attendant dirt, dust and noise is going to have a seriously detrimental effect on private properties and businesses surrounding the area.

How can the council measure financially these effects and adequately compensate people for them, then expect the taxpayer to foot the bill? And for what? The one-off £4.5m costs of restoring, extending and renovating the Futurist buildings as a whole, pales into insignificance compared to those that the council intend to saddle us with so Flamingo Land can produce something that is not what we need or want.

If the council would give us the building with the land on which it stands, we are sure that the people collectively could raise that amount of money, skills, expertise and labour to develop a suitable tourist attraction on that site along with the Futurist, because they care.

We have submitted a business case for what we believe is appropriate and feasible. The council have neither acknowledged it nor responded - but continue along their chosen path of destruction. Can we all work together to prevent this?